Photo-uthoorapher



- and J. G. MELVILLE AND WM. BRAYSHAW, OF WETHEREDVILLE, MARYLAND.

f Loon.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 12,762, dated April 24, ,1855.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, JOHN G. MELvILLn and WILLIAM BnAYsHAw, of Wetheredville, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Operating the Shuttle-Boxes of Fi ring- `Looms; and we do hereby declare te following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyin drawings, mak ng a part thereof, in w ich' Figure 1, represents a side elevation of a loom frame wlth our method of raising or lowering the shuttle boxes attached thereto. Fig. 2, represents so much of the opposite side of the loom, as contains the mechanism for o erating the shuttle boxes on that side,

Fig. 3, represents a modification of th vibrating lever or bar, which operates the compound pinion and ratchet wheel for raising the shuttle boxes.

imilar letters where they occur in the several figures denote like parts.

The nature of our invention relates more especially to the construction, and operation of the compound pinion, lor cog wheel and rack wheel, it being in one single wheel, b` which means we very much cheapen and slmplify the mechanism for working the shut-tie boxes of looms.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, -We will proceed to de- .scribe the same in connection with the drawings. l

A, represents the frame of the loom, and

' B, a shaft suitably supported thereon, which may receive its motion from any of the moving parts of the loom. On one end of this shaft B, are placed two cams C, D, which rotate with said shaft. From the to of the frame A is suspended two bars E, which are hung in slots a, a, so that the extent of their motion may be adjustable. The one E, hangs in the path of the cam C, and the other F, in the path of the other cam D, so that they will be struck and vibrated by their respective cams, and to hold them up to their cams, the bars have each attached to them, and to the frame, coiled springs 6,1), for that purpose.

c, is an endless belt, passing around the two pulleys or drums G, H, and on said belt are lags d, into which are secured the figuring wires e, of variable len hs to give the check or plaid to the materlal to be woven, in a manner well known to those skilled in the art of weaving. O'n the shaft of the lower pulley G, is placed a ratchet wheel I (in dotted lines), into which a pawl J, on the lower end of the bar F, takes, and as said bar is vibrated by its cam, it gives motion intermittently to the endless chain of figuring wires.

To the lower end of the bar E, is adjusted (said bar being provided with a. series of holes 1, 2, 3 &c., for that purpose) a vibrating lever K, which plays through a guide L, attached to the frame, and the rear end of said lever comes within the path of the 'gurlng wires, so as to be pressed down by sald wires in proportion to their lengths. The lever is kept up against the wires by weighting its other end, or it may be done by a spring, and to prevent the wires from wearing away the end of the lever, it may be capped with steel or some other metal.

Toward the front of the loom are arranged two cog and ratchet wheels M, N, on aplate 0, in which they may be adjusted, to compensate for any wear of the parts. lThese wheels or segments M, N, are each in one single piece, having a portion of their perimeter cut in. cogs 'i and other portions in ratcheted teeth 'nwhich dispenses with many of the pieces heretofore used for this purpose. The bar K, or rather the forward end of the bar K, when touched by one set of the figuring wires at its rear end vibrates between the two segmental wheels M, N, touching neither of them, and when this is the case the shuttle boxes are not moved. But when the longer wires strike said bar, it raises up its front end into gear with the ratchetn, and as it vibrates 'ives a partial rotating motion to M. en the lags which have no wires in them come around, the rear end of the lever rises, and its front end P drops upon the ratchet z' of the segment N, and rotates it in a direction contrary to that of M. The cogs' on both M, and N, take into a vertical rack Q, so that when either M, or N, is operating the rack, it will turn the segment that is not immediately working the rack into proper position to catch the point P of the bar when it changes by the action of the lag or wires from one segment to the other. y enlarging the diameters of the segments M, N, and increasing both the number of cog and l' ratchet teeth, the rack bar Q, can of course be raised and lowered to almost any practical extent. The rack piece Q is provided with rounded depressions, 7, into which a friction spring m takes, as said piece Q, is raised and lowered, and the force of the spring should be just suicient to hold the' rack piece into the position in which the segments place it, and yet yield to the action of the segments when they raise or lower said rack piece. The spring fm. may however be so rigid as to require mechanism to throw it out of the depression, and then release it again so as to catch the rack at the end of its movement.

On the end of the rack piece Q, is a projecting wrist pin r, to which is connected a `lifting rod R, and on top of this rod R, is arranged the series of shuttle boxes S. The rod R, receiving its rising and falling motion from the rack, and the rack receiving its motion from the bar K through the invvtervefntion of the segments M, N, at one of its ends, and the guring wires at the other end thereof, of course the shuttle boxes move into and out of place to conform to the g uring wires; and the particular pattern to y be woven is set on said wires.

The segment N, is arranged on one end of a shaft T, which extends entirely across the loom, and on its opposite end is arranged a segmental toothed wheel W (Fig. 2) which works in a rack piece X, moving in guides p. On the bottom of the rack piece X, is an arm V, on the end of which is a wrist pin s, to which a rod Y is connected, and on top of this rod Y the opposite set of shuttle boxes U. The two sets of shuttle boxes which are Varranged on the opposite sides of the loom fare so operated, that as one set rises, the other set falls and vice versa. This is for the pu ose of balancing their movement. )For if oth sets were to rise and fall together, it would require more power to work they, and their descent would be more rapid Ethan their ascent, and cause irregular movetions-the one descending aids to raise the other, and they thus become governors to yeach other.

In some cases it may be preferable to use but one of these Vcompound cog and ratch wheels. To do this we remove the upper 'segment M, and also remove the bar K, and put in its place the forked bar Z, (Fig. 3). This' bar works on the lower segment N, only, and takes, as required, into the ratch n,

before described, and into another ratch v on the under part of said segment-or will vibrate past both sets of ratch teeth, without taking into either if the figuring wires are arranged for such eii'ect; and thus one segment alone will operate the shuttle boxes. The bar Z, whe used, is of course governed by the figuring wires, the same as that K is, and the diil'erence between the two plans consists only vin the choice of which of the two pieces shall be du licated-the segments, or the double, or orked bar. When a single segment is used its double ratch may be of uniform or varying ades, as may best suit the style of goods to e woven; and its perimeter as well as the number of its teeth may be increased or diminished to correspond to the movement required` in the shuttle boxes. But such changes are obvious modifications of the same thing, and need not be dwelt upon.

Having thus fully described the nature of our invent-ion, we would state that we are-- fully aware that a forked bar through a series of cog gearing and ratchets, has been used for operating the shuttle boxes of looms. This we do not claim; but

What we do claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- In combination with a vibrating bar or lever, one or more segments whose perimeters are partially provided with cog, and partially with ratchet teeth for the purpose of operating the shuttle boxes of figuring looms, through the intervention of ya straight rack, so that w'e dipense with several of the pieces heretofore used, and thus cheapen and simplify the mechanism, as set forth,

, while the same ends are attained, as by the more complicated machinery at present used for this purpose.

JOHN G. MELVILLE.

WILLIAM BRAYSHAW.

Witnesses: ENos HUMPHRYs, Jr., G. A. DUNNING.

Disclaimer. To the Gam/missioner of Patents:

The petition of JOHN G. MELVILLE and WILLIAM BRAYsHAW, of Wetheredville, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, respectfully represents: that they are the inventors and patentees of certain Improvements in Looms, for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to them on the 24th day of April, 1855; that they have reason tol believe that through inadvertence and mistake the claim made in the specification of said Letters Patent is too broad, including that of which the said patentees were not the first inventors. They,

l therefore, hereby enter their disclaimer to that part of the claim in the aforementioned 

